The Octuplet Controversy:Is the Left Now Calling for Reproductive Control of the Individual?
For years the pro-abortion movement in the United States has proclaimed that women should have the sole right to determine any and all actions regarding reproduction for themselves without any outside influence or regulation. This goal has been so valued that attempts to formally criminalize fetal murder or abuse by substance addiction have been opposed.
The recent report documented in the Los Angeles Times of a single mother allegedly living with her parents who delivered octuplets even though she already was carrying for six children under age 7 at home may have dramatic consequences on how reproductive rights are viewed. Since the announcement of the birth at the delivering hospital the media has pounded the airwaves and internet with questions of how the medical providers involved in the case could have allowed such an event.
Several themes are repeatedly emerging including why society is not regulating a person who is poor from having so many children. Talk show hosts on cable news networks like CNN and MSNBC stated that only rich people with lots of paid for help should be allowed to have so many children. They further contend that doctors and clinics have a duty to not provide reproductive services to those whose economic or social situation would be not ideal for raising children. Bioethicists and physicians have appeared stating that stricter regulation of reproductive services needs to be put in place.
Meanwhile members of the Democratic leadership have tried to put in national legislation into the stimulus legislation which would dramatically increase birth control and abortion services for the poor. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has implied that limiting the reproduction of the poor might be one of the most important steps in securing the nation’s economic future. Concurrently, Catholic opposition to abortion has a viral video on the internet which discusses how a African American baby whose father abandoned him and mother who struggled to support him became President of the United States.
In China and in parts of the old Soviet Union there have been reports that fetuses are being harvested to obtain human growth hormone and other “parts” like skin to be used in cosmetics. It is now illegal to sell products of conception in the United States but the United Nations has been avoiding entanglement in this issue because it supports abortion worldwide. Two physician whistle blowers from the Ukraine were denied asylum when they exposed a fetal harvesting factory because of UN fear of upsetting abortion activism.
All this raises the question as to whether abortion is really about individual rights or about societal control of the individual for the betterment of the state? Scientific advancements in reproductive technology will lead to longer viability of embryos until eventually human beings will likely be able to be grown totally in-vitro. Technology and its application by itself does not have morality. Nuclear power can heat homes or kill millions.
Would Barack Obama’s mother have aborted him if abortion if abortion had been strongly encouraged by the state? Should reproductive services be only offered to the wealthy? Should the government ultimately decide who has the right to reproduce? Does a woman’s absolute right to use her body as she sees fit mean she can sell products of conception for profit? As in the case of Barack Obama we as a society have to admit that we cannot and should not predict what an individuals potential before he or she are born. We cannot be a civilized society without respecting the sanctity of unborn life and not seeing it as a commodity, waste product, or privilege reserved for the economically successful.
Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years.He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.